Scope and Content Note
The papers of Henry Morgenthau (1856-1946) span the years 1795-1941, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period 1870-1941. The collection consists of original or transcribed diaries, family papers, correspondence, speeches and writings, subject files, and miscellaneous clippings, printed matter, historical collectibles, and other material. The papers are arranged nine series: Diaries , Family Papers , General Correspondence , Letterbooks , Special Correspondence , Speeches and Writings , Subject File , Miscellany , and Oversize . The material is in English, with some in French, German, and Greek.
Henry Morgenthau, who immigrated to the United States from Mannheim, Germany, in 1866, was a businessman, diplomat, and philanthropist whose service as ambassador to Turkey during World War I brought him center stage to Middle Eastern affairs and the breakup of the Ottoman Empire. Sent to Constantinople by Woodrow Wilson in 1913, he held the ambassadorship through the first two years of war and the beginning of the last fatal round of Armenian massacres. He aided Allied personnel in Turkey after it sided with the Central Powers, and he took the initiative to notify Washington and the world of the plight of the Armenians. Other accomplishments included helping save the lives of Jewish settlers in Palestine and serving as technical advisor on Turkish affairs at the Paris peace negotiations in 1919. He joined in the formation of the Armenian Relief Committee, a charitable organization that preceded Near East Relief, and after the war he received from President Wilson an appointment to become chairman of a special commission to investigate the persecution of Jews in Poland. A crowning philanthropic achievement was the massive resettlement under League of Nations auspices of more than one million Greeks exiled from Turkey after the Greco-Turkish War. His last important office was as an American delegate to the World Monetary and Economic Conference in London in 1933.
The papers in this collection reflect Morgenthau's many activities as a public servant. Material relating to his family, while sketchy and incomplete, includes the manuscript of an early autobiographical essay, various genealogical and family memorabilia, and a smattering of correspondence that is strongest not in the Family Papers series, but in the Letterbooks series. Covering the years 1922-1940, the letterbooks contain some correspondence outside the family, but are notable for the handwritten copies of the private messages that Morgenthau sent to his wife, to his son, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau (1891-1967), and to a few other children and relatives. Also important in revealing the personal side of his career and involvements are the diaries Morgenthau kept. Clustered in two principal groupings, 1871-1886 and 1917-1948, they are perhaps most valuable for the decade beginning with the American entry into World War I. Entries for Morgenthau's Paris Peace Conference activities exist only in transcribed typewritten form.
The General Correspondence series contains numerous letters to and from important statesmen and diplomats, with the most substantive dealing with humanitarian issues. In addition, there are many significant letters from local Jewish leaders, heads of charitable organizations, and spokesmen for civic and religious groups in the United States and the Middle East. As an example, much of the correspondence immediately after Morgenthau's appointment to Turkey concerns emergency relief to Jews in Palestine. The imminent joining of Turkey with Germany after the outbreak of war in 1914 meant that supplies and support for Eastern European Jews living in what was then Turkish-controlled territory would be cut off. Among the persons Morgenthau corresponded with about this issue and the related one of Zionism are Jacob H. Schiff, Louis Marshall, Meyer Bloomfield, Lucien Wolf, Abram I. Elkus, and Arthur Ruppin. On a similar note, there is a substantial file of letters from Protestant lay and religious leaders in the United States and abroad who mounted the World War I era campaign to save Armenians from Turkish destruction. Complemented by numerous State Department memoranda, most of which are retyped copies used by Morgenthau in the writing of his published memoirs, the file on the Armenian tragedy includes letters from James L. Barton, Cleveland H. Dodge, Herbert Adams Gibbons, Franklin E. Hoskins, William W. Peet, and Charles V. Vickrey.
Following the war, Morgenthau became involved in an attempt to study and help resolve anti-Semitism in Poland. While data on the investigation can be found in pertinent locations throughout the collection, including the General Correspondence series, they are most evident in the Subject File under the title “Poland.” Available in this series are transcripts and notes on the commission's hearings, background documents of various origin, draft copies of the disputed final report, and a press file recording the reaction of the Polish populace. Also in the Subject file are documentary materials that Morgenthau collected on projects relating to Turkish, Armenian, and Jewish (Palestine) questions; his national tour in 1919 to promote the goals of the League to Enforce Peace; his work in 1923-1924 on behalf of Greek exiles with the Refugee Settlement Commission; and his attendance at the London Conference.
The issue of Zionism was an abiding concern for Morgenthau and one that generated much debate. Palestine as a homeland for Jews appears as a discussion point throughout the collection, but is focused in the Special Correspondence series containing Morgenthau's letters to and from Rabbi Stephen S. Wise. Also in the Wise correspondence is information on the presidential campaigns of 1912 and 1916 in which Morgenthau played an important role on behalf of Wilson and the Democratic National Committee. Additional documentation of Morgenthau's affiliation with the Democratic party can be found in the General Correspondence and Subject File series, especially in files relating to political campaigns for each of the presidential elections from 1912 to 1932.
The Speeches and Writings in the Morgenthau Papers include drafts, notes, and final manuscripts for many of his speeches and memoirs. The memoirs cover aspects of his life as a businessman that are otherwise not well documented in the collection. Material relating to Morgenthau's youth and early career in New York real estate tends to be limited to school papers in the Subject File and to clippings and scrapbooks in the Miscellany series.
Correspondents in addition to those already mentioned include Newton Diehl Baker, James Bryce, Cary T. Grayson, Jean Jules Jusserand, James G. Harbord, Robert Lansing, Breckinridge Long, Ignace Jan Paderewski, St. S. Papadakis, and Joseph P. Tumulty. There are a number of letters from Franklin D. Roosevelt, most predating his presidency, and a few from William H. Taft and Herbert Hoover.